Ballardini eyes upturn in fortunes
Posted Thursday, October 22, 2009 by PA
Coach Davide Ballardini is hopeful Lazio can halt a run of almost two months without a home win when they take on Villarreal in Group G on Thursday night.
The Biancoceleste have not won in Rome since beating Atalanta 1-0 in August 23, and have collected just two points in four Serie A home matches since then.
Ballardini said: "We are going through a delicate time but we need to be calm and be comforted by our recent performances."
Sunday's 1-1 draw against Sampdoria saw Lazio drop to 13th in the Italian league standings.
Ballardini saw his team produce an impressive display at Levski Sofia earlier this month, when they thrashed the Bulgarians 4-0 to claim their first win in the Europa League, having lost their group opener 2-1 to SV Salzburg.
Villarreal head into the match with all sorts of headaches after suffering a dismal start to their domestic season and a mixed time in Europe.
Under new coach Ernesto Valverde, the `Yellow Submarine' have taken just three points from their opening seven league games and slumped to the bottom of the Spanish standings this weekend after losing 2-1 to a Xerez side who previously had never won a Primera Division match in their history.
In the Europa League, Villarreal started off their Group G challenge with a 1-0 home win over Levski Sofia but then crashed to a 2-0 loss against Salzburg in their next outing.
Despite their poor form, Spain midfielder Santi Cazorla insists the team are firmly behind Valverde, and he hopes Thursday's clash in Rome will herald a change in fortunes.
"We are going there to win and hopefully we can break our bad run in Rome. It will be difficult because it's a hard ground to go to, but our objective is to get the three points," said Cazorla.
Discussing Valverde specifically, Cazorla explained: "We believe in the coach and we hope he continues for the whole season."
Valverde selected a 19-man squad for the trip to Italy, with the injured Ariel Ibagaza the only player unavailable.
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